Cytokines in the grass, a lesson learnt: Measuring cytokines in plasma using multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry.

RATIONALE: Cytokines are cell regulatory molecules of high importance as indicators for homeostasis and pathology in many species. The current method to measure cytokines in body fluids is reagent dependent, requiring highly specific paired antibodies. METHODS: A liquid chromatography/multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry (LC/MRM-MS)-based approach was developed to simultaneously establish the limits of detection (LODs) and quantification (LOQs) for recombinant cytokines IL-1ß, IL-6, IFNγ and TNFα as pure standards and in bovine sera. All experimental LC/MRM-MS data are available at CSIRO Data Access Portal repository under identifier doi.org/10.25919/5de8a0232a862. RESULTS: The present method enabled LODs and LOQs as low as 1.05 and 1.12 fmol/µL in the experiment comprised of pure standards. Comparable results were obtained in the experiment where digested cytokines were mixed with pre-digested sera proteins. The intrinsic matrix effects were evident when intact cytokines were co-digested within undiluted and undigested sera decreasing the ability to detect and quantify cytokines by 10,000-fold compared with pure standards and pre-digested sera. CONCLUSIONS: The developed LC/MRM-MS method provided insights into the difficulties in detecting the target peptides when embedded in complex matrices. Nonetheless, the method may potentially be readily applied in biomarker-focused research interrogating fluids of lesser complexity such as synovial fluid, cerebrospinal fluid and tissue culture media.

Proteomic profiling of 16 cereal grains and the application of targeted proteomics to detect wheat contamination.

Global proteomic analysis utilizing SDS-PAGE, Western blotting and LC-MS/MS of total protein and gluten-enriched extracts derived from 16 economically important cereals was undertaken, providing a foundation for the development of MS-based quantitative methodologies that would enable the detection of wheat contamination in foods. The number of proteins identified in each grain correlated with the number of entries in publicly available databases, highlighting the importance of continued advances in genome sequencing to facilitate accurate protein identification. Subsequently, candidate wheat-specific peptide markers were evaluated by multiple-reaction monitoring MS. The selected markers were unique to wheat, yet present in a wide range of wheat varieties that represent up to 80% of the bread wheat genome. The final analytical method was rapid (15 min) and robust (CV < 10%), showed linearity (R(2) > 0.98) spanning over 3 orders of magnitude, and was highly selective and sensitive with detection down to 15 mg/kg in intentionally contaminated soy flour. Furthermore, application of this technology revealed wheat contamination in commercially sourced flours, including rye, millet, oats, sorghum, buckwheat and three varieties of soy.

Using mass spectrometry to detect hydrolysed gluten in beer that is responsible for false negatives by ELISA.

Gluten is the collective name for a class of proteins found in wheat, rye, barley and oats. Eating gluten triggers an inappropriate auto-immune reaction in ∼70 million people globally affected by coeliac disease, where the gut reacts to gluten proteins and this triggers an immune response, resulting in intestinal inflammation and damage. Gluten-free foods are now commonplace, however, it is difficult to accurately determine the gluten content of products claiming to be gluten-free using current methodologies as the antibodies are non-specific, show cross-reactivity and have different affinities for the different classes of gluten. The measurement of gluten in processed products is further confounded by modifications to the proteins that occur during processing and in some case hydrolysis of the proteins. In this study, LC-MS/MS was used to profile whole beer, and two beer fractions representing hydrolysed hordeins (<30 kDa) and hordein peptide fragments (<10 kDa). Subsequently, multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) MS enabled the relative quantification of selected peptide fragments in beer and revealed that certain classes of hordein were prone to hydrolysis (B- and D-hordein). Furthermore, select beers contained very high levels of gluten-derived fragments. Strikingly, those beers that contained high levels of B-hordein fragments gave near zero values by ELISA. The hydrolysed fragments that persist in beer show a dose-dependent suppression of ELISA measurement of gluten despite using a hordein standard for calibration of the assay. The development of MS-based methodology for absolute quantification of gluten is required for the accurate assessment of gluten, including hydrolysed forms, in food and beverages to support the industry, legislation and to protect consumers suffering from CD.

Extending the cellulosome paradigm: the modular Clostridium thermocellum cellulosomal serpin PinA is a broad-spectrum inhibitor of subtilisin-like proteases.

Clostridium thermocellum encodes a cellulosomal, modular, and thermostable serine protease inhibitor (serpin), PinA. PinA stability but not inhibitory activity is affected by the Fn(III) and Doc(I) domains, and PinA is a broad inhibitor of subtilisin-like proteases and may play a key role in protecting the cellulosome from protease attack.

Measuring hordein (gluten) in beer--a comparison of ELISA and mass spectrometry.

BACKGROUND: Subjects suffering from coeliac disease, gluten allergy/intolerance must adopt a lifelong avoidance of gluten. Beer contains trace levels of hordeins (gluten) which are too high to be safely consumed by most coeliacs. Accurate measurement of trace hordeins by ELISA is problematic. METHODS: We have compared hordein levels in sixty beers, by sandwich ELISA, with the level determined using multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry (MRM-MS). RESULTS: Hordein levels measured by ELISA varied by four orders of magnitude, from zero (for known gluten-free beers) to 47,000 µg/mL (ppm; for a wheat-based beer). Half the commercial gluten-free beers were free of hordein by MS and ELISA. Two gluten-free and two low-gluten beers had zero ELISA readings, but contained significant hordein levels (p<0.05), or near average (60-140%) hordein levels, by MS, respectively. Six beers gave false negatives, with zero ELISA readings but near average hordein content by MS. Approximately 20% of commercial beers had ELISA readings less than 1 ppm, but a near average hordein content by MS. Several barley beers also contained undeclared wheat proteins. CONCLUSIONS: ELISA results did not correlate with the relative content of hordein peptides determined by MS, with all barley based beers containing hordein. We suggest that mass spectrometry is more reliable than ELISA, as ELISA enumerates only the concentration of particular amino-acid epitopes; this may vary between different hordeins and may not be related to the absolute hordein concentration. MS quantification is undertaken using peptides that are specific and unique, enabling the quantification of individual hordein isoforms. This outlines the problem of relying solely on ELISA determination of gluten in beverages such as beer and highlights the need for the development of new sensitive and selective quantitative assay such as MS.

What is in a beer? Proteomic characterization and relative quantification of hordein (gluten) in beer.

The suite of prolamin proteins present in barley flour was characterized in this study, in which we provide spectral evidence for 3 previously characterized prolamins, 8 prolamins with only transcript evidence, and 19 genome-derived predicted prolamins. An additional 9 prolamins were identified by searching the complete spectral set against an unannotated translated EST database. Analyses of wort, the liquid extracted from the mashing process during beer production, and beer were undertaken and a similar suite of prolamins were identified. We have demonstrated by using tandem mass spectrometry that hordeins are indeed present in beer despite speculation to the contrary. Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mass spectrometry was used for the rapid analyses of hordein in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) beer. A selection of international beers were analyzed and compared to the results obtained with hordein deletion beers. The hordein deletion beers were brewed from grains carrying mutations that prevented the accumulation of either B-hordeins (Risø 56) or C-hordeins (Risø 1508). No intact C-hordeins were detected in beer, although fragments of C-hordeins were present in wort. Multiple reaction monitoring analysis of non-barley based gluten (hordein)-free beers targeting the major hordein protein families was performed and confirmed the absence of hordein in several gluten-free commercial beers.